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[Houst:,  No.  34.] 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.— iauaary  13,  186;].     Read 
first  and  second  times,  laid  on  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

[By  Mr.  A'est.] 


Endorsing  the  recent  proclamatiou*and  order  of  the  Presidenc  on  the 
subject  of  retaliation. 

1  AVhere.\s,  The  President  of  the  Confederate  States  did,  upon 

2  December  23d,  1802,  issue  his  proclamation,  declaring  Benjamin 

3  F.   Butler  to  be  a  felon,   deserving  of  capital  punishment,  and 

4  ordering  that  he  be  no  longer  considered  or  treated  simply  as  an 

5  enemy  of  the  Confederate  States,  but  .-is  an  outlaw  and  common 

6  enemy  of  mankind ;  that  in  the  event  of  his  capture,  the  officers 

7  in  command  of  the  capturing  force  do  cause  him  to  be  inime- 

8  diately  executed  by  hanging,  and  that  no  commissioned  officer  of 

9  the  United  States  taken  captive,  shall  be  released  on  parole  before 

10  exchange,  until  the  said  Butler  shall  have  met  ^Yith  due  punish- 

11  mcnt  for  his  crimes,  and  further  ordering  that  all  commissioned 


12  officers  in  the  command  of  said  Benjamin  F.  Butler  be  declared 

13  not  entitled*to  be  considered  as  soldiers  engaged   in  honorable 

14  warfare,  but  as  robbers  and  criminals  deserving  death,  and  that 

15  they  and  each  of  them  be,  whenever  captured,  reserved  for  execu- 
IG  tion  ;  that  all  negro  slaves  captured  in  arms,  be  at  once  delivered 

17  over  to  the  Executive  authorities  of  the  respective  States  to  which 

18  they  belong,  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  of  said  States, 

19  and  that  the  like  orders  be  executed  in  all   cases  with  respect  to 

20  all  commissioned  officers  of  tli^  United  States  when  found  serving 

21  in  company  with  armed  slaves  in  insurrection  against  the  author- 

22  •  ities  of  the  different  States  of  this  Confederacy. 

2^        A7}d  v'/irrco.<;.  the  President  did  on  the  day  of  December, 

•2  1  1862,  issue  an  order  to  Lieutenant  General  T.  H.  Holmes,  dircct- 

25  ing  him  to  demand  by  flag  of  truce  from  the  authorities  of  the 

20  T'nited  States,  the  body  of  one  John  McNeil,  a  Brigadier  Gene- 

27  ral  in  the  service  of  the  enemy,  who  had  ordered  the  murder  of 

28  ton  unarmed  citizens  of  tlio  State  of  Missouri,  prisoners  in  his 
2!)  possession,   and  that,   in   the  event  of  said   demand  not  being 

30  complied  with,  within  twenty  days  after  the  same  being  made,  the 

31  said  Lieutenant  General  should  cause  the  first  ten  commissioned 

32  officers  belonging  to  the  Federal  forces,  who  might  fall  into  his 


3 

33  hands,  to  be  immediately  executed  without  regard  to  rank ;  There- . 

34  fore, 

1  Resolved  by   the  Senate  arid  House  of  Reprcseritatives,  That  the 

2  foregoing  proclamation  and  order  of  the  President  have  our  full 

3  approbation,  and  that  Congress  will  at  all  times  co-operate  with 

4  the  Executive,  when  requested,  in  any  retaliatory  measures  which 

5  may  be  deemed  necessary  to  prevent  the  atrocities  of  the  enemy, 

6  and  force  them  to  conduct  hostilities  in  accordance  with  the  rules 

7  and  usages  of  civilized  warfare. 


